


The Mountain on their Own

by Londonrose98



Series: On their own [3]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 100 are family, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Aunty Octavia, F/M, I don't like abby, Married Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Mom!Clarke!, Sisters, drawn out time periods
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:25:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22472542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Londonrose98/pseuds/Londonrose98
Summary: Most of Centakru is held captive in the Mountain.Octavia has been tasked with protecting her niece and also has taken it upon herself to save the others. It's up to Octavia to form an alliance and save her family at the same time. If only she could be sure they were alive.Clarke wakes up in what is essentially a cage. She is a mother without her child but has to do everything she can for her people. She has to hold on to hope that her sister and her daughter are alive.*Temporary Hiatus* I'll come back to this at some point that last season killed it for me a bit. Sorry.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Octavia Blake & Clarke Griffin, Octavia Blake/Lincoln
Series: On their own [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1107087
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66





	1. The Mountain

Chapter 1 - The Mountain

Clarke’s POV

I don't know how long it has been since I woke up in this white room, I don't know how long its been since these people took us from our camp. I don’t know how long its been since I sent Octavia off with Rory. It was all I could do not to fall apart at the thought of my daughter and my sister. I had to believe they made it to safety or I don't know what I will do. 

After a while I got bored of staring at the painting on the wall, beautiful as it was, a beautiful rendition of a starry night sky. I got up to check on Monty, what I saw made my blood freeze. He was gone and the door to his cell was wide open. Before I could scream for him, a figure passed me covered in some type of blue containment fabric. No matter what I did, the noise I made the figures didn’t turn. Eventually I got fed up, I ripped the iV pole apart and used it to break open the window in the door. I got a nasty cut when I opened the door but I didn’t care about that right now. 

I quickly made my way to the blue figure that still hadn’t noticed me behind them I ripped the headpiece off to find a girl around the same age as me with something in her ears. 

“What are you doing? I'll be contaminated?” They girl pulled the things from her ears and stepped away from me quickly. 

I didn’t care to answer and quickly shoved against the wall and used a piece of the glass as a threat. “Where’s my friend?”

“He’s fine, you don't understand. Just please stop.” I pulled her off the wall and put the makeshift knife to her neck as I held her in front of me. 

“Take me to him.” She didn’t have any other choice but to and soon we were entering a different hall. 

“Clarke, your bleeding.”

“How do you know my name?” I didn’t like not having all the information. These people had my family and even in space we knew not to poke a mother bear.

“It's on your chart.” She sobbed.

“How do they know my name?” What else can they know? I need to protect my people. I need to protect Rory and Tav. 

“I don't know please. I don't. Just let me live please.” 

“You want to live, then do exactly as I say.” She moved her hand up. and I shoved her against a wall before she could do anything. 

“Key card, I need my key card.” She pulled it out of a pocket by her breast and I nodded at her to swipe it. The door led to an elevator.

“What level?” I allowed her to push the button for 5. Quickly the doors closed and we began moving. One of the doors had a reflective surface and I could see how dirty and slightly crazed I looked. I didn’t like it, I shoved the girl up against it so I didn’t have to see it. 

I tried to get some answers out of the girl but all she kept doing was sobbing. Soon enough a voice announced that we had arrived at level 5. I moved the girl into a position that I could control her movements from. I pushed her out of the elevator and into a corridor with an open hall. 

The hall was full of tables and people. All of them were passing food and laughing and talking. The girl kept sobbing in my arms but I didn’t care at the moment. 

One of the people eating noticed us and her eyes went wide with fear. “Containment breach!!” As soon as the words left her month people started screaming and an alarm sounded. The girl got out of my arms but I didn’t really care at the moment. People were running away from the vicinity but a group of guards came for me. 

“Where the hell am I?”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was chained to a bed in what must have been some kind of med bay based on the medical supplies and equipment around. If I had been in a less dire situation I would be mooning over the supplies here. I could do so much with it all. 

A group came in the door and the women in the middle wearing a lab coat spoke up.  
“Hello Clarke, How is your arm?” The had forcibly held me down and fixed it but it was this woman didn’t seem to care. 

I didn’t care to answer, “Not much of a talker, is she?” The women aimed this at me but the old man behind her answered.

“Likely picked up from the savages, no doubt. That’s fine, Mya has something to say first anyway.” 

For the first time I noticed they girl from before had entered with the rest of them. “You were the next one to be cleared through quarantine. Another 10 minutes and you would..” The old man cut her off with a forced cough. She took a deep breath and continued, “I’m not pressing charges.”

The old man dismissed her to go get some kind of treatment the woman from before led her to a bed and out of my sight. The old man looked to one of the guards. “Restraints aren’t necessary.” 

“Yes, Mr. President.” The guard moved to undo them and I continued to look around and at the old man. 

The old man stuck his hand out, "Dante Wallace. From what I can tell you are their leader.”

I stood up to talk to the man eye to eye and had to cover a wince at the soreness that was now settling in without the adrenaline covering it up. “Where are the rest of my people? Why did you capture us? What about my son?” I needed to know if Octavia had made it to safety and decided to conduct a quick test.

I saw something false in the old man, Dante, eyes but he quickly recovered. “Clarke we have 72 of your people here. And I’m sorry to say that your son died on the way here to the mountain, he was too premature and too weak. Rest assured knowing that we did all that we could to save him.”

I had to force the tears of joy that Rory and Octavia had made it safely to appear to be tears of sorrow. I fell back to the bed with a sob and buried my head into my hands to conceal the smile. 

“Clarke, you have it all wrong. We didn’t capture you, we saved you. The savages that have been hanging around you will kill you all. As soon as they are given the chance because that’s what savages do.” Dante seemed very proud of his explanation but I didn’t give it much thought. 

“Well if we aren’t prisoners let us leave, if you caught 72 of us then more of us are still out there.” I stood up again to look him in the eye.

“We rounded everyone we could find, there is no more of you out there. I’m sorry for any of the people that you lost but the savages must have gotten them by now.”

“I want to see my people.” He didn’t seem surprised.

“Of course you do, I would want to as well.’ He turned over his shoulder and motioned some men to bring over a rolling trunk. They opened it to show fancy clothes and jewels and shoes. “Change and meet me in the mess hall.” He turned and walked out of the med bay. 

Once they were gone I walked over to look at the clothes. They we all fancy things from the Old World, I had seen these kinds of things in old pictures. I found a pointy black shoe and decided to make a weapon out of it. I broke off the heel and slide it out of sight.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I walked out of the med bay and into a tunnel that had large tubes running down every wall. The hall was very loud because of all the machinery. I could see Dante talking to the guards from earlier and as soon as he saw me he left the conversation. 

“Sorry for all the noise.’ He waved his hands around his ears like I was stupid. I held back any comment though, right now I need to play nice. He started to explain what all the machinery was for but I tuned him out pretty quickly that was more Raven and Monty stuff. 

Finally he stopped talking and I was able to ask the questions weighing on my mind. “I don't understand. You’re on the ground. You know it’s survivable, why would you stay here?”

“It's not survivable for us.” 

“The grounders seemed to have managed well the last hundred years. Me and my people managed the last few months.” 

“Natural selection works, only some of the grounders survived the radiation and those are they ones that populated and kept surviving. The people here in the bunker never went through the process and we won’t be able to survive the outside world.”

Neither did my people…” as I talked I figured it out though and stopped myself. “The solar radiation. The generations in space, where radio waves are stronger without the atmosphere to protect us. We adapted in space and became survable down here.” 

“Exactly, our scientists were amazed at the way your bodies work. If it wasn't for you fast metabolisms you would all still be in quarantine.” 

We had arrived at another elevator and he motioned for me to get in. The door started closing and I thought I was home free before he stopped it with his hand. 

“Give me the heel.” I handed it to him with a frown. “Clarke you don't have to fight for you life anymore. And I am truly sorry about your son, please know that we did everything we could. We have also had him cremated, we couldn’t afford the exposure to radiation. But you have made it, you are alive. Here, in exchange for the heel,” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a watch. My watch, my father's watch. “I thought you might like this back, now that it has cleared quarantine. Welcome to Mount Weather.” 

He said this all with a sick forced smile but I had to keep my reactions controlled. He pulled his hand away and allowed the elevator to get moving.

Once the elevator exited I quickly walked ahead of my guards and stopped right before I entered the mess hall. I could see them all, well not all of them, but most of them. They all had new clothes like me and looked clean. I didn’t see anyone who looked badly injured or if they were they had been taken care of by the doctor here. 

Miller saw me first as he looked around the room. He ducked under the others and came up on me with a shout of my name. Murphy right on his heels.

“Clarke.” I was wrapped up in hugged within seconds and could feel the others surrounding me and joining the hug. There was varied comments of my name and thanks that I was alive. 

Miller pulled back and what must have been everyone hugged me at least once ( I think Jasper came around twice). Pretty soon they all pulled back to look at me and almost simultaneously all of their eyes drifted downwards. Once they noticed my stomach wasn't as bloated as it had been their eyes flew back to my face with varying stages of alarm. 

“Clarke, what?” Miller choked out with tears forming in his eyes. 

“My son died on the way here, he was too premature.” I put extra emphasis on the gender but everyone seemed to be caught up to notice. Tears started leaking out of their eyes and I quickly switched tactics. “Rori kom Centakru en Tavia kom Centakru ban au Centakru en stelt en klir.” 

It was rough and choppy and I knew only a few would be able to follow completely. I could see understanding dawn on a few faces and the others had to take it at face value. They might not have understood but those who did weren’t upset anymore. I also knew that if we used trig a lot during this stay that it would look very suspicious.

Miller reacted quickly and used the tears that had formed from before to sell his performance. “Clarke, I’m so sorry for your son. I was so excited to be a fun Uncle with Murphy.” Murphy nodded from beside him. 

Once again I was wrapped up in a hug with more people than I could count. Eventually everyone pulled away but still stayed close in silence. I couldn’t tell what they were all feeling but the silence helped make our story believable. 

Apparently these people have no sense of tack because shortly after a young woman elbowed her way through my family and greeted me. “Welcome Clarke, If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. My name is Teegan,” She handed me a map of the bunker and the first thing I saw was that it was incomplete. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually it was dinner time and the entire dining room was full of food none of us had ever seen or even heard of. Even though something was wrong here I wasn’t going to stop everyone from eating. I gave a quick nod to Miller and Murphy and the invisible gate holding them back broke. Everyone ran for all the different foods and started grabbing things and shoving them on to a plate. They had enough decorum to not shove it into their mouths immediately. 

Raven and I moved a bit slower to the line of food, I was still incredibly sore from giving birth but also trying to make it look like I was fine. Walking with Raven, with her leg brace on display gave me a little leeway though. We eventually joined the others sitting down, well almost everyone was sitting. Monty and Jasper were fighting over something brown on a plate but they sat down after I gave them a look. 

“Hi Clarke, Hi Raven. You guys have to try this chocolate cake.” Monty said but I could see the moment he looked down at my plate and saw it nearly empty, Raven’s plate was similar. He gave me a questioning glance.

“We can’t get comfortable here guys. We know what these guys did to the others. These are the Maunon. They also gave us a map with no exits.” I said as I pulled out the map that Teegan gave me earlier. “We need to get out of here, somehow. But we also have to be discreet about it.” 

They gave me more confused looks. 

“The president said that they can’t leave here because of the radiation but somehow they can go out in 100 year old hazmat suits and round up over 80 people with no problem. Lincoln told us that they hunt them and that he thought that they were hunting us too earlier today or yesterday, whenever that was. We had a peaceful treaty with the Trikru and we were working towards something better. This doesn't feel completely safe or without consequence.”

“Maybe they are just seriously misunderstood here.” Jasper said but I could see my words were getting to him. 

“This place feels too good to be true. We trusted Lincoln because we knew him, we don’t know these people. Come to think of it has anyone seen Lincoln? He was with us, fighting with us right? What about the other member of trikru who were fighting with us.”  
I could see on their faces that they hadn't thought about that. I felt bad for bursting their bubble but this wasn’t right. 

“Guys we were fighting the reapers to not be taken here. Don’t let the food and comfort fool you, this isn’t right. Think about Octavia and Rory. We--I need to know if they are safe and ok. I need to be able to see my daughter again please.”

There is was. I had wreaked the bubble but I could see in their faces that they had honestly been blinded. Miller, Monty, and Jasper all gave me nods. 

“We have to figure out how to get out of here. I also need you guys to spread the word among all us quietly. We need to seem like we are complacent. If you see a chance to get out, you have to take it.” 

The boys nodded and I let out a small breath of relief. We then continued to eat and tried to look as normal as we could have for the rest of the night. 

Later that night as we sat in out bunk beds, I laid back and cluncted my now flat stomach with one hand and my father's watch with the other. 

“I will get back to you Rory. I promise.” I said to myself in the darkness. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trig translation ; Rory of Centakru and Tavia of Centakru left Centakru and safe and hidden.


	2. Dialysis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on all Trig will be in italics. It's easier than trying to form sentences from the Fandom Wiki.

Chapter 2 - Dialysis 

Mountain  
Clarke POV

We have been here for 3 days now, and yet nothing has changed. All of our people who are here are now out of quarantine. But still no one has come up with anyway to get out of here. In these 3 days I have spent them all in despair because I am away from my daughter. When my breasts stopped hurting from the production of milk, I cried myself to sleep because I would never get that closeness with my daughter that I had been waiting for. I could only hope that she and Tav were okay. 

This morning we were getting ready for breakfast, the mountain men had supplied us all with 5 different outfits to cycle through and clean clothes were a luxury that I had forgotten. I shook my head to clear the thoughts of how nice this place was. 

The girl, Maya, came in and went straight for Jasper, completely pushing Harper out of the way. We had decided to use the girls obvious crush on Jasper to get any information that we could. I could see Harper physically hold herself back from saying something but she knew it was for the best. 

“Good morning Jasper.” Maya said with a sort of sweet smile. 

Jasper had to take a second to switch gears but he was good and replied before she could notice. “Top of the morning to you, is a really stupid thing to say but I saw it once in an old movie.” 

Maya giggled and started walking closer to him. Jasper took this as a good sign. 

“Are you going to breakfast?” He asked.

“Yeah, do you want to go together?” before Jasper could answer an alarm went over the speakers throughout the bunker. Maya clammed up and told Jasper she would meet him there before she turned and tried to run away. Luckily I was quicker than her. 

“What does that mean?” I kept moving to stray in her way and wouldn’t let her out. I could see the second she resigned herself to having to answer my questions. 

“That alarm means that a surface patrol is back, the same patrol we must have sent out for your people. It also means someone is hurt and I need to get to quarantine.” She said quickly, “Now can I please go?” 

I sighed and moved out of her way. She started running down the halls and I didn’t stop to think, I went after her. 

“Clarke!” I think that was Miller running after me but I didn’t look back to check. Soon I reached a room where Maya and a bunch of others were putting on hazmat suits. They didn’t notice us quite yet.

“What's going on?” Maya asked. 

A man I don’t know responded. “Two back, one guy dead and the other took his suit off to try and save him. The body is in room 2 and the guys is still decontamination but will need treatment as soon as possible. What are they doing here?” Looks like he noticed us. 

I quickly looked around and saw a badge clipped onto another guy that I didn’t know shirt, again I didn't think and grabbed it and went for the door. 

“Wait it isn't safe.” the first guy said.

“It is for us,” I didn’t hesitate to run down the corridor. 

I could hear Miller say something but couldn’t make it out. Then I felt him running behind me and we entered room 2 together. The body was in a clear body bag already but I could clearly see a bullet wound. 

“There, they are lying. The grounders don’t use guns and none of our people are out there to use the ones we had. Something else is going on here Miller.” Before he could respond there was voice behind us. 

“What the hell are they doing in here?” I turned to see the doctor from before. Behind her there was more hazmats carrying who I presumed was the other guy. Almost the entire top half of his body was severely burned and he didn’t look to be conscious. The only thing that confused me was the silver mech on his chest. It looked like something I had seen in the old medical books on the Ark during my studies. 

Before I could get a question or offer to help out, Miller and I were bodily removed from quarantine by more hazmats. One of the hazmats grabbed the key card out of my hand and turned back to the white corridor. Once we were alone in the corridor outside I turned to Miller. 

“I knew something weird was going on here.” Miller didn’t have any argument for me and slowly we made our way back to the mess hall for breakfast. 

Once we entered the mess I went directly for the President. “We need to talk Dante.” 

“Sure, let's talk over breakfast,” he tried to guide me towards a table but I wasn’t having it.

“Who shot that soldier?” I didn’t care who could hear me and I didn’t care what they thought. Dante obviously did because he moved me to a less crowded part of the mess hall. 

“That partrol was sent out to see if anything could have been salvaged from your campsite. Anything to make you guys feel more at home, once it was sterilized of course. They were attacked by the surface people, those you call grounders.” Dante explained as calmly as he could. 

“The Grounders don’t use guns and I know a bullet wound when I see one. Something else is going on here.” I was getting annoyed with him trying to tell me that everything was all right when it so obviously wasn’t. 

“Clarke, I know that you are grieving your son. Sometimes grief makes people see things differently. We are here to help you and we aren’t a threat to you.” His words made me want to punch him, but I couldn’t jeopardize the picture me and Centakru had been painting for the last few days. He needed to believe that while I was questioning everything, that the rest of us were following the leader. If anything his assumption that it was my grief causing the problem made this slightly easier. 

I didn’t need to force the tears to come at the mention of my dead ‘son’. I was worried about Rory and Octavia enough that I was already just barely keeping it together. 

“Maybe you're right, maybe I just need some more rest.” I quickly wiped away the tears because while I was suing them for this ploy, I really didn’t want him to see me as a weak advisory. 

“Of course, Take all the time you need. Once you are ready, I would love to put those doctor skills to use in medical. Dr. Tsing has been needing help.” He said as he once again pushed me somewhere, this time towards the buffet where Miller was still getting food. “Here, eat and rest. Then let me know.” He left me with Miller after a quick smile. I noticed that he didn’t pick up his plate and watched him slowly but surely leave the mess.

“Did it work?” Miller asked lowly as he handed me an empty plate.

“Like a charm.” I said, hiding my smirk by looking at all the food. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 Days Later

After 3 days of laying in bed and grieving (read: Plotting), I finally felt well (read: Prepared) enough to go to Dante at breakfast and tell him I was ready to help in medical. He looked very pleased and promised to personally escort me there after we had eaten. 

As we walked he tried to talk to me about the Medical department but it was easy to tell that he didn’t know much about it past the names and job titles of those in medical.

“Dr. Tsing is the Chief of Medical here in the mountain. She runs all of medical and will be your superior. She will also be watching you to check your techniques and make sure that you are properly trained doctor.” he explained as we came closer to the entrance of Medical. “There are a few nurses who you will get to know quickly I am sure, they are all very sweet. Dr. Tsing also has two student doctors training under her, One is Dr. Cortez and the other is Dr. Whitehead.” 

By now we had reached medical and paused right outside of the doors. I don’t know what he was waiting for but he seemed intent on it. I didn’t want to wait for whatever he was waiting on, lest it be something that would prove to be less than the righteous self image they were presenting. 

“Are we going in? I am super excited and would really like to get to work. It’s been so long since I have had any kind of proper equipment. I had to make do with what I could out in the woods above.” This time I wasn’t actually lying, completely. I was really excited to be able to use some of the tools I was more familiar with. 

“Yes, of course Clarke. I just got distracted, so sorry.” He did look somewhat apologetic but at this point I was pretty sure he had a great poker face. 

Finally we entered the medical department and it was incredible. I had seen some of the stuff when I was here before but then I had been more preoccupied with other things. There was actual heart monitors and blood pressure machines. There was sterile bandages and syringes. Was that a cabinet full of medicine! No Clarke! Focus!

“Welcome Clarke,” Dr. Tsing said as she finished with a patient. He was hooked up to what must have been some kind of dialysis machine that I couldn’t see properly. I wanted to have a closer look but new I had to play my cards right, I needed to at least gain some semblance of trust before I do anything. 

“Please Dr. Blake, it’s been a long time since I have been around another doctor and I kinda miss it.” Also maybe not a total lie. 

Dr. Tsing nodded, “I understand, it is hard work for that kind of title. It still always makes my heart flutter a bit, even after years of hearing it.” Oh, she is good. 

“Well, I think you two will get on nicely now. I will take my leave, Clarke, Dr. Tsing.” And with that Dante turned around with a flourish a bit concerning for a man his age and he practically skipped out of medical. I was left staring after him with a confused look on my face. 

“President Wallace has always been a bit of a matchmaker at heart, romantic and platonic. He loves it when people get along. Now come, tell me about your training, I would love to know the differences between here and space. 

And so I told her about the ARK and the way things are done up there. How medicine is so valuable and only ever used for the worst cases possible. I tell her how my mother is the head doctor and how she disapproved of me becoming a doctor. I tell her about my experiences in the clinic and in the few surgeries I had assisted on. I told her all she wanted to know, I needed to get her trust somehow. 

Finally she seemed enough relaxed for me to start questioning her, discreetly of course. “So how different is everything down here?”

“Well, not that much different. There are only so many ways to do medicine as you know. One big stark difference is everyone down here has to have a dialysis port incase of any radiation exposure. Here I’ll show you on Lt. Langston.” 

We walked over to the patient she had been helping when we walked in, he was still unconscious but I could see the silver port placed right above his heart. It was connected to two different tubes and blood was running through both. 

“That's incredible, we didn’t have the machinery in space to dialysis, I have only ever read about in books and seen it in old videos from the archive. How do you achieve the clean blood down here?” I asked. 

“We have a modified type of dialysis down here, it’s probably not what you read about in your books.” Hmm, so that was a cagey subject, something to look into later. 

“Oh I would love to learn about it later if you don’t mind.” I could see something unknown flash in her eyes. 

“Yeah Of course, but not right now. We seem to have spent most of the day talking and have also forgotten lunch. It’s nearly dinner time. Lets walk up together.” Dr Tsing said as we moved from around Langston’s cot. 

The time had not been lost on me but I was not about to tell her that. “Yes, of course. I didn’t know that I was so hungry till now.”

As we left Medical I turned around once more to glance behind me. I knew that I needed to figure out a way to come back without my chaperone. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I need to get back in there, somehow.” I said quietly in trig in the darkness of our bunk room. 

“Clarke, it doesn’t have to be you. One of us can do it and report back what we see. If you go back somehow, then your credibility will be lost. They won’t trust you anymore.” Miller responded in hushed tones. 

Suffice to say that we were working on our trig. It wasn’t great but we had been doing our best with what we all had. We had to use every option available to us to keep the Maunon unaware. 

“Fine who? And How?” I asked. 

“I will, I’ll break my stitches and then they have to take back in there.” Miller said quickly. 

“No, that's a horrible idea.” I couldn’t have anyone hurt themselves for this. 

“Do you have anything better?” Miller responded resolutely. 

“No.”

“Ok, I am still technically on bed rest. So tomorrow, after breakfast, I’ll figure out someway to break my stitches and someone is going to have to find me. And Clarke before you suggest yourself, no.” Miller said, I stared him down in the low light. He started right back and I eventually had to let it go. 

“I’ll find you, Miller.” Harper’s voice was small but strong. Miller shot her a quick smile and Jasper grasped her hand in the darkness. 

“Okay. So we know what to do.” Miller said and with that he blew out the small candle we had stolen from dinner. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical  
The Next Evening  
Miller POV

I am not going to lie, ripping my stitches was one of the worst pains I have ever had. It was definialty right up there with being stabbed by a poison dagger and having surgery in a hurricane. I could feel the doctor checking my stitches and then quickly replace what felt like a bandage. 

“He will be okay Clarke. I just wish I knew how his stitches got torn out so badly.” I didn’t know Clarke was here, damn her, she was supposed to stay away from this. 

“Thank you so much Dr. Tsing, I just couldn’t bare taking care of his arm myself. I feel like this is my fault. I should have been watching him, not here fawning over all your medical equipment.” Clarke said and I was slightly impressed with how well she was selling this. 

“It’s not your fault Clarke. You can’t watch over everyone and be expected to heal yourself too. You have just gone through a few traumatic things. Clarke, you lost your son. You need to be able to heal on your own. We will take care of your people, you take care of yourself.” That must have been the President. 

Clarke must have acknowledged him in some sort of way because the next thing I heard was 3 pairs of footsteps and a door closing. I slowly peaked my eyes open and made sure there was no one else in the room. Well no one conscious, there was two ther paintes in their beds both hooked up to the blood machines Clarke told me about. 

I quietly made my way about the room and double check that the guys were out of it, they were. I followed the tubing with the blood up to the ceiling and towards one end of the room. The tubing went through the wall and there was a door locked and unmovable into the next room, wherever the blood was coming from. There was no way I could get the door open on a good day and certainly not with a messed up arm and some amount of blood loss. I needed a new plan, I quickly looked around. 

Hah, a vent. That can be useful. 

I pulled a chair over to underneath the vent and pulled with all the limited strength I had. 

Pop! The vent came off.

I knew if someone came in that I was absolutely was never getting out of here alive. There was no way I could cover up my spying, at least not quickly. But right now I don't care, I pulled myself up and into the vent. 

It was a quick crawl through and I had a less than graceful drop to the cold, metal floor. But luckily no one was there to see it. I stood quickly and had to get my bearings. I paused, there was this weird moaning behind me. ‘Please don’t be some radiated monster” I begged whatever god was out there. I turned around and saw something even worse. I wanted to be sick but somehow held back. 

There were two young people, obviously grounders, strug upside down and countless tubes coming from their bodies. They were the ones moaning, not that I blame them. I stood there speechless, I didn’t even know where to start trying to understand-no, I didn’t need to try, I understood. I was trying to figure out what kind of monsters could do this to other humans. 

The moaning got louder from behind me and a weird clicking joined the already disturbing noise. Once again, I was scared to turn around but I did it. If I wanted to be sick before, I didn’t know what I was now. There were cages, rows of them with at least 3 stacked on top of each other. The cages held grounders in them, 2 at least to a cage. 

I walked towards them before I knew what I was doing. Those who were strong enough reached out towards me, other just laid and moaned more. Something made me stop halfway through the row of cages and I looked down to the bottom cage. My breath caught in my throat.

“Lincoln?” he barely had the strength to lift his head to look at me and I almost wish he hadn’t. His eyes looked nearly dead and it took all of my will to not run away and hide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it, please leave a comment. 
> 
> I am also super bad updating but sometimes I will just get that urge and go to town. I hope you guys stay with me on this journey, I still don't even know what exactly I am doing. But I am trying and that counts right?


	3. Chapter 3 - Atlas

Chapter 3 - Atlas

Bellamy POV  
The Ark

“Dude, what happened last night?” Wells asked for what felt like the 1000th time since they'd gotten up this morning as they sat down with their breakfast in the mess hall. Jax wasn’t joining them because he had a surgery with Abby to prepare for. 

“Nothing, it was just a weird dream and weird feeling combined. I'm probably just exhausted.” I responded, I really didn't want to talk about it. Especially since I was still in the process of convincing myself it was just a dream. I rubbed a hand down my face in annoyance and exhaustion. It was a new feeling, the ruff texture of the new beard beginning, I haven't felt the need to take care of it. Wells calls it my depression beard, I don't argue with him.

“It wasn’t just a dream, Bell. I know you well enough by now. It's just us and it’s kinda looking like it's just gonna be us for the rest of our godforsaken lives. Just tell me, I'm your friend.” I had never seen that look on Wells’ face and it made me slightly uncomfortable. 

“Wells, just because I am alone now and most likely forever. It doesn't mean you have to stop living your life to take care of me. I want you to go on living your life and not worry about my nightmares. Stop sleeping on my floor and go find yourself a life. And before you say that she would want you to take care of me, don’t. She also wouldn’t want you to throw your life away for me or for her memory.” I haven’t been able to say her name in months and I don’t think I ever would be able to. 

“Hah, so it was a nightmare.” Wells looked weirdly triumphant. 

“Really that's what you got out of all that?” I was incredulous and slightly irritated. I knew he meant well but I also knew he would never understand.

“Just talk to me please.” He looked to be near begging and I really wanted him to just shut up. 

“It wasn’t a nightmare, it was a dream but it's also never gonna happen, which just makes it all so much worse than a regular nightmare. I dreamed that I was on Earth and Clarke was there. Octavia was too but for once she wasn’t my biggest focus - she was just off to the sidelines. Clarke was there and there was this tiny form of a little brown haired girl, hiding behind her legs and holding onto Clarke as if her life depended on it. Clarke was saying something to me but I couldn’t hear it and I couldn’t reach them. Then I woke up and it was gone and I am never gonna have that.” I couldn’t bear to look at him and stared at my flavorless breakfast. 

“Bellamy,” I could hear the tears in his eyes and still refused to look up. The next thing I felt was his hand on my arm and I could barely suppress my flinch at the unexpected contact. 

I stood up and pushed my food away, “I’m not hungry.” I turned and walked away. 

“Bell,” He called but still I didn’t turn around. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia POV  
Earth - Trikru Farm 

Rory wouldn’t stop screaming. 

I had tried everything I could think of. She didn’t need a clean dipper. Juliana had fed her just an hour ago. I had been rocking her gently for 20 minutes. Nothing would calm the newborn and I knew nothing would. She wanted her mother and there was nothing I could do. 

“Oh hush my darling little gladiator, please. I know you miss mama and I’ll tell you a secret. I miss her too, I just hope she is ok because you know what I didn’t sign up to be a mother yet. I wouldn’t be any good at it, so we both need your mama to come home honey. You have already proven to be a fighter, my little gladiator. And I know you get it from your mama, so I know she will come home.” I looked down at Rory. 

Sometime during my short monologue she had fallen asleep and I could never be more thankful. I gently carried her over to the old crib that Juliana’s husband Avan had borrowed from a neighbor because the children couldn’t both fit in the one they had for their son, West. Once I was sure Rory hadn’t woken up I slowly backed out of the room. Once I pulled the door I turned around to find Avan standing behind me. I just barely managed to suppress my gasp. He chuckled and gave me an apologetic smile. 

“You will be a great mother, Octavia, when the time comes.” Avan said. He was a gentle and kind man who in the few days I had known him never seemed upset or angry that I was impeding on their land or in their home. He had done everything I could ever hoped even sending a boy from the village to Polis with a letter from me to the Heda. 

“Thank you Avan. I just hope that time is farther off. I don’t want to have to raise my niece before her parents have even had a chance. I know my brother may never get that chance but I do believe Clarke will.” I said as we began walking towards the kitchen. 

“Well I do have some news on that front.” He chuckled at the excited look on my face. “Quinten has returned from Polis. The Commander was moved by your letter and has decided to come meet you. She also said that Anya’s reports had been very good over the last few months since Centakru made the treaty with Trikru. She has been impressed by your people’s dedication.” He stopped speaking to allow me to take it all in. 

“Really, she is coming here. To talk to me? Oh god, I'm not ready for that. I'm just a second and I can't meet the Heda. What if I mess up and ruin it all for my people. Clarke is the one who has been planning on meeting with her, not me.” My breathing started getting really fast and short and my hands were shaking. 

“Octavia, Octavia, take a deep breath. It's gonna be ok.” Julina came up to me quickly and wrapped an arm around me. She guided me to the kitchen chair and tried to keep me calm. 

“I can’t ruin it.” I was still having trouble breathing. 

“Octavia, the Commander is coming because of your letter, because you convinced her in a letter that you need her help. You convinced her that she is the only one who can help you. You won’t ruin it, your sister decided on you to be her second for a reason and you know her. Just try and do what she would do.” Avan was trying to be helpful and on some level it was working but I still was shaking. 

“When does she get here?” I needed time to prepare myself. 

“The day after tomorrow.” Avan didn’t meet my eyes. I started to panic all over again. 

“Octavia, calm down. It will be ok. We will help you.” Juliana started to hum some kind of tune and also quickly shot a glare at her chosen one. 

After a while I was finally able to get my breathing under control and stopped holding Juliana’s hand in a death grip. 

“How do I prepare for this?” I needed all the preparation I could get. 

“First off, no more english. Juliana and I will only speak to you in trig and you need to do your best to speak trig. If you don’t know a word in trig you may ask but only then may you speak english. Even to Rory you must speak trig.” Avan spoke slowly so that I could keep up but I could see in his face that this was non debatable. 

“We will also work on your etiquette. There are certain protocols to follow when you are meeting the Heda. You must also decide on what you want to say and you might want to practice on Avan and I.” Juliana had slipped into trig with no hesitation and I wondered if they had spoken about this prior to telling me. 

“Have either of you either met the Heda?” My words were choppy but I could tell they understood the question. 

They both shook their heads negatively. “No but this stuff is common knowledge to the conclave.” Avan replied. 

“Ok, lets begin because we have a long way to go in just 48 hours.” I steeled myself for some of the most stressful days of my life. Not that last week hadn’t already been added to that list. The list now includes the day mom told Clarke about me, the end of the Masquerade Ball, the dropship and the 3 days following, Rory’s birth and subsequent escape. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two (Extremely Stressful) Days Later

I was in the fields behind Juliana and Avan’s farm with Rory. I had found in the first week of her life that humming the old lullaby, I remember from Bellamy, was the one thing that could calm both Rory and myself. 

The Heda was supposed to arrive to meet me any minute now, and I was nervous, to say the least. I hadn’t slept at all in the last 36 hours. Juliana and Avan had been amazing between helping me with my trig and helping me prepare. Prepare for what may be the most important meeting of my life. If I messed this up, I could ruin things forever. For one my people may never be freed from the Mountain. I also could end up offending the most powerful and probably scary person on the planet. 

Suffice to say I had a lot weighing on my shoulders. I felt like Atlas from the old Greek myths, I smiled to myself remembering Bellamy’s offended expression when I asked him to bring something other than Roman Empire books back from the library. Greek myths were a second favorite of mine to read about. 

I looked down at Rory, the lullaby only worked for so long before she got tired of it and I got tired of repeating it. 

Do you want to hear the story of Atlas, my little gladiator?” I said in my newfound baby voice, I continued with trig because it truly was helping me. 

Rory just gurgled back at me. I took that as a ‘Yes, Aunty O, please tell me’. 

“Long ago in a place far away there were these powerful beings, they were called Titans and Gods. Now the Titans had ruled over the world for longer than time can remember. Some believe that the Gods were the children of the Titans, and the Gods felt that the Titans were horrible rulers. They believed they could do better and so they went to war with their parents for the power to rule the world. It was a long and grueling battle but in the end the Gods prevaled.

They didn’t kill their parents though, they couldn’t do that. So they decided to imprison them in different places all over the world. Some of the Titans were imprisoned in a place worse than Hell, called Tartarus. Other were trapped on Islands or chained to rocks, any kind of prison that the Gods could find to hold them was used. One Titan, Atlas, was forever condemned to stand on a mountain top and hold the sky up. By holding the sky up, he was making sure that the Earth wasn’t crushed by the weight of the sky. But the Sky was impossibly heavy and was an incredible burden. The entire world was counting on him to hold the sky up, he was trapped. 

Over the years different heros, sons of the gods, called demigods would pass by Atlas as he held the sky. Each and every time he would try and pass the weight to another but everytime the hero would say no. Once he had finally managed to convince one to take the sky but in his relief from the burden he didn’t see the hero had tricked him. With one quick movement Atlas was back under the sky and the hero was free. The hero stood there for a moment looking at the imprisoned Titan, he then gave him a sardonic smile and walked away. The hero never once turned back despite Atlas’s pleas. 

Unfortunately the hero had spread the story around, so for the rest of eternity when a new hero would walk by they could no longer be tricked by Atlas’s sweet words. They would listen politely and then turn around and walk away without a word. Atlas was trapped holding the weight of the world on his shoulders for all time. Perhaps he is even still out there, stranded on a mountain still holding up the sky. If Atlas was strong enough to hold up the sky for millenia then why couldn't he survive a little bit of fire, huh.”

“That is a beautiful story, Octavia.” An unexpected voice said behind me. 

The only thing that kept me from screaming was the baby now peacefully sleeping in my arms. Really, Rory was starting to develop a habit, my stories were interesting and everytime she fell asleep. We were going to have to work on that. 

No! Octavia! Focus!

I turned around to see a slender young woman with tribal paint on her eyes, her hair pulled back into tight braids. Between her eyebrows was a silver circle. That circle I knew identified her as the Heda. I froze for a moment but Juliana’s training had paid off. 

It was difficult to kneel with a sleeping baby in my arms but I did it. My head angled down so far that I could barely see her feet or the feet of the person I had glanced behind her before I had gotten to my knees. 

“You are in the presence of the Heda Lexa, the first commander to rule all 12 clans of the coalition.” The other pair of feet belong to a man. I kept my head down because I knew she must give me permission to speak or even look at her in the first place. 

The man’s voice was too loud for Rory and she woke up out of her peaceful nap. She quickly began fussing and I knew that if I couldn’t get to calm quickly that she would start screaming. I began to rock her gently but still stayed silent. I had to bite my lip to stop from trying to comfort her. 

“Rise Octavia. You may calm your niece, then we may talk.” With those words the Heda’s feet turned around and walked back towards the house. I waited until I could no longer hear her or the other man’s footsteps before I rose properly. 

I slowly stood and began rocking Rory more earnestly and quietly I began to hum again. Once Rory wasn’t about to scream everyone’s ears off, I looked down at her. 

“We can do this, we have to do this.” 

I took a deep breath and steeled myself, then I walked the same path the Heda had walked just moments before into the house. I just hoped I didn’t mess this up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It hasn't been as long as normal but its still been awhile, thanks for sticking with me. I hope you liked the check in with our favorite Blake's.
> 
> If you liked this please leave me a kudos or a comment! They make me happy!!


	4. Chapter 4 - Haunon (Prisoner)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All trig is in Italics

Chapter 4 - Haunon (Prisoner)

MIller POV  
The Cages

Lincloln didn’t say a word, but his eyes did show some recognition. I don’t know what they were doing to them but I knew I had to get them out. I pulled with all my might at the gate of Lincoln’s cage and still it wouldn’t give.

_“Come on, this isn’t working!”_ The only answer I got was the surrounding grounders moans. I stepped back from the cages and looked around the disturbing room. From the two grounders hanging upside down to the cages, there was a fridge holding blood bags but none of this was helpful to me. I needed to find something that I could use to break Lincoln out.

There, a pole leading to an electric box. That could work. I went over and pulled once again with all my strength, I was gonna be really tired when this is over and the adrenaline stops running. This time something actually gave when I pulled on the pole.

I quickly made my way over to Lincoln’s cage with the metal pole. I jammed it between the lock and the cage and once again pulled.

Clank!

The lock fell to the ground and I pulled the cage door open. Just as I was going to pull him out, I heard a different noise than the continuous moaning. A door opening and footsteps.

I quickly shoved Lincoln back into the cage and climbed in myself. I knew if they found me here they would kill me and probably everyone else. Who knew what else these horrible people were capable of. The footsteps belonged to a woman in a whit coat, as she got closer I could see that it was the doctor, Dr. Tsing.

Dr. Tsing went over to the fridge and pulled out a blood bag. I hoped with all I was worth that she would turn around and walk out. That she wouldn’t see the lock on the floor or find me in this cage as well.

Unfortunately the other grounders weren’t being too helpful. They all began moaning louder and the sound turned from the pitiful noise I had heard before to an angry, terrible noise. The doctor turned around with a look on her face that confused me at first. It was partly scared but also disgusted and curious.

She slowly walked towards the rest of the cages from the fridge and stared at them with a calculating gaze, never once flinching. This angered the stronger grounders because they started to rattle their cages and some even reached out to grab at her. That didn’t deter the doctor because she kept walking through the cages. I was frozen and could feel Lincoln saging into my back, he was barely strong enough to hold himself up now. She was right in front of us now but her back was still to us. The grounder in the cage above us must have been at least slightly coherent because he reached out and actually grabbed her hair. That made her jump and quickly walk away from the cages. She paused just out of reach of the cages and straightened her hair, then she readjusted what she was carrying and quickly left the room.

I barely waited long enough for the door to close behind her before I pushed the cage open and crawled out. I quickly reached for Lincoln and pulled him out as well. I had to support him almost completely but I didn’t care at this point.

_“Come on, we need to get out of here.”_ I noticed there was another door with a sign saying containment suits needed. My best guess was that there was some kind of radiation exposure that the Maunon couldn't handle. That was definitely going to be our best shot, I set Lincoln against the wall and again pulled with all my strength, the door was heavy but came easily. I grabbed Lincoln again and we entered a small room made of rock with an odd metal floor.

_“What now?”_ Lincoln panted as we looked around the empty room. Before I could even answer him an alarm sounded and lights flashed.

“What’s that?” I couldn’t be bothered to try and speak trig right now. I turned to stare at Lincoln hoping that he had an answer. I could see in his eyes that he didn’t know as much as I didn’t.

Then the floor opened up beneath us and we figured out what the alarms meant.

We fell through darkness and hit some kind of metal slide, we landed in something that was even worse than the room above.

We had landed in what I could only explain as a vat filled with skeletal bodies of grounders. This must be where they put the ones that have been drained out of blood and can’t be useful to them. It was terrifying to be laying in a mass grave but I needed to react and the adrenaline was still pumping.

I crawled my way to the end of the vat and started to move when I saw Lincoln staring in the dead face of a grounder boy.

_“Lincoln, we need to go.”_ He didn’t respond.

_“Lincoln, look at me!”_ This time he managed to look away from the dead boy’s eyes. _“Lincoln, take my hand.”_ I reached my hand out and begged with my eyes that he would respond.

He grabbed my hand and I had to suppress my sigh of relief that he responded. I pulled once again and was able to pull him out of the vat and onto the floor outside. After a few exhausted gasps, I started to look around and take in this new area. It was all rock and there was some kind of metal grating on the floor. It was obviously something from the old world and I felt as if I had seen it from an old movie. My mind was too frenzied to even begin to try and remember the name, not that it was incredibly important.

I turned around looking for anything that might help, there were rocks, there were more empty vats that gave me shivers, there was a pile of clothes. Those clothes might be helpful, I ran over and started picking out things for Lincoln and I to wear. I was still in the medical gown they must have put me in when I ripped my stitches and Lincoln was wearing something again to bandage underwear.

I turned to find Lincoln and saw him leaning up against the vat with the bodies and staring into the same dead boy’s eyes from before.

_“Lincoln, we need to go. We are free.”_ I grabbed the clothes, _“Look, we need to change, we will never survive out there like this.”_

_“I can’t leave them, not my people, not like this.”_ His already weak voice was filled with despair and I felt my heart go out for him.

_“I know, it is horrible. But they are dead and there is no way to save them. But we can save the others, everyone up there. The manon are holding everyone hostage and they are killing them. If we can get out of here and find some help then we might be able to save the ones that can still be saved.”_ I was near begging as I tried to pull him away from the mass grave.

Before he responded there was a noise coming from the tunnel ahead of us.

_“Someone is coming, come on.”_ I tried to pull him away but he was stronger even in his weakened state. He pulled away and went to grab some kind of rock.

_“Lincoln, we can’t fight. We are both too weak and you can barely stand. Those are reapers who are coming and we need to survive, so that we can come back and save everyone else.”_ Once again I had to pull him away from something.

_“I have a better idea then fighting and dying down here.”_ I led him towards the empty vat and did my best to shove him into it. I quickly went back and grabbed a bundle of clothes from the pile and tossed it in. I then jumped into the vat just in time because the reapers rounded the corner.

We laid there in terror and silence, I just hoped the reapers would move on and not see us. Sadly, nothing ever seems to go the way I want it to. The reapers through more bodies into the vat on top of us. I could see Lincoln hold himself back from reacting and I had to do the same. Three bodies and then nothing, I hoped again that that was all it was going to be. Once again I was wrong and the reapers began to push the vat that we were hiding in down the tunnel.

The Reapers pushed us for what felt like days, it could have been only a few minutes and I would have been able to tell the difference. Eventually we stopped and I could hear more reapers in the tunnel. Before I could even react, hands reached down and grabbed one of the other bodies that had been thrown in with us. I jammed my eyes shut and preyed to whatever god was out there, that they wouldn’t reach in again and pull Lincoln or I out.

This time I was in luck because the footsteps moved away from us and towards the other reaper voices. I slowly moved my head up to be able to see over the top of the vat. There were more reapers than I could see and they were all huddling around a fire. The body that they had taken was more awake now because I could hear his screams. With a sickening crunch the cut off and the reapers all laughed. It made me sick but we had to use the distraction to escape. I leaned over to Lincoln and moved the body off his legs.

_“Lincoln, we need to go.”_ I hissed.

He was staring at the two other bodies and didn’t move. I pulled on his arm and motioned, but he didn’t move. He looked into one of the faces and whispered, _“Yu gonplei ste odon”_ , with that he snapped the neck of the grounder. He repeated the process with the other girl. With that he grabbed the other clothes and jumped out of the vat with me.

We ran down the tunnels as quickly and quietly as we possibly could. Once we were out of the range of the reapers we began to slow down just enough to dress in the stolen clothes.

_“This place is a maze but we need to find a way out of here.”_ I said as I turned wildly looking around for any kind of clue.

_“Yeah,”_ Lincoln heaved from the wall he was leaning on.

We ran and we ran, at some point I heard reapers following us but we lost them. I also heard this high pitched ringing following us but we didn’t stay to figure out what it meant or who it announced.

_“We are just going in circles.”_ Lincoln said as we paused for a moment.

_“Have we tried that way?”_ I asked as I pointed towards another tunnel.

_“Pff, why not.”_ Lincoln shrugged and we started down yet another tunnel. There was another noise coming from down the tunnel, I didn’t know what it meant but Lincoln obvious did because he sped up.

“Dude, What--” I stopped, there was sunlight.

The noise was water rushing and there was sunlight. We came up to the edge and saw we were standing at the top of a waterfall then went into a giant reservoir.

_“Well, there is our way out.”_ Lincoln said.

_“You’re kidding.”_ I was up for a lot of things but that was a long fall and I didn't feel like drowning on top of everything else that happened.

_“Do you see another way out?”_

I didn’t. I took a deep breath and then got a running start. My eyes jammed shut and I didn't quite know when to hold my breath. The air was rushing past me and then the water hit like a brick. Instantly I was submerged and I had to do my best on swimming. It was still a bit of a new concept. Lincoln must have been right behind me because all of a sudden I was being grabbed and pulled somewhere.

Well I hoped it was Lincoln, it was a radiation monster then I was doomed. Soon my head broke the surface and I could see that it was Lincoln. He was still incredibly weak but he managed to hold us both up.

“We need to work on you space-people and swimming.” He gasped as he pushed us towards a bank.

All I could do was chuckle and try and help him. I'm not sure how much help I was but we made land and both of us crawled out on our hands and knees.

_“Let’s take a minute, then we can come up with a plan.”_ I said as I laid on my back and took deep breaths.

Lincoln just grunted in response and we both laid there until the blackness faded it.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mountain, Centakru Quarters  
Clarke POV

“Something has gone wrong, Miller should be back by now. It was just stitches and an overnight observation. He should have been released at breakfast.” I was pacing, Miller could be in a lot of trouble because of me. It should've been me going to explore the medical department. I should’ve been the one to go back in.

Oddly it was Monty who calmed me down. You would think he would be right next to me freaking out over his boyfriend being missing. “Clarke, it’s gonna be ok. Miller can handle himself and if something was majorly wrong, we would know by now. _These people have alarms for everything.”_

I stopped pacing to look at him,”Yeah you’re right. We would know if something happens, they wouldn’t just let him disappear and not expect us to question it.” I took a few deep breaths, Monty’s hands on my shoulders anchoring me.

_“Incoming.”_ Raven said from near the door. We all jumped and made it look like we were just getting ready for lunch. Jasper and Maya walked in slightly out of breath.

Maya had shown up last night, after dinner and the whole Miller in medical fiasco, and asked Jasper to meet her on the 3rd floor before breakfast. To say Harper was irritated was downplaying it, Jasper also wasn’t very excited but he also knew how important it was to keep her trust.

Jasper had woken early and with a quick apology to Harper, he went to meet Maya for whatever she wanted to meet him for.

“I think we lost them,” Jas panted as they leaned against a wall.

Maya had a dumb smile on her face and replied, “I don’t think they were actucally following us.”

Jasper looked up and saw all of us staring at the both of them and I saw the minute when he made eye contact with Harper. There was a flash of apology in his eyes before he turned back to Maya, “Do you want to go get breakfast?”

Maya giggled and nodded, she went to grab his hand but Murphy intervened. “Hey, Jas, I need your help with something before you go, if you don’t mind.”

Maya very obviously had to control her anger at being interrupted. Jasper on the other had barely suppressed relief on his face. “Yeah, sure dude. Uh, Maya, I’ll meet you in the line.”

She nodded and leaned up to give him a peck on the cheek before leaving the same way they had come in. We all stayed still for a moment to make sure there was no one in the hearing range.

“Uhh,” Jasper cringed as he went to wipe his cheek. There were a few suppressed chuckles at his reaction. “Thank you for trying Murphy.” He nodded to him as Jas went over to Harper and pulled her into a quick hug. They whispered to each other for a few seconds before they pulled away.

“Jasper, you are doing great. I’m sorry that this falls onto you.” I apologized as I went over to give him a quick pat on the back.

“It’s fine, Clarke. We all have to play our part. What’s going on with Miller?” Jasper asked as he sat on one of the bottom bunk beds.

“We don’t know, he hasn’t come back yet and I'm getting worried.” I said as I walked over to my bunk and pulled the borrowed mountain jacket off my bed.

“Miller can handle himself, I’m sure he is fine.” Jasper said.

“That’s what I said.” Monty said from the other side of the room.

“Okay, point taken I worry a bit too much. Let’s go, Jasper has a breakfast date.” I didn’t need to turn around to see the look of discomfort on his face.

Later at Breakfast

We were eating together and trying to suppress our reactions to Maya being all over Jasper. It was quite a funny sight and it was hard to keep in. As we ate and watched, we didn’t notice Dante coming up behind us.

“Ahh, young love. Always warms the heart.” he said from right behind me. We all turned quickly to see him standing there with Dr, Tsing.

“Clarke, we need to speak with you if you don’t mind.” Dr. Tsing said after she finished a bite of her muffin.

I nodded and stood up, “Yeah what’s up?”

The President and Doctor both looked a little uneasy and glanced at my friends. I could tell they didn’t want to talk in front of them. I decided to cut them a bit of a break. “Why don’t we walk and talk, I could use the stretch.” They both looked oddly relieved and I turned back to my friends with a look. I grabbed my jacket and the last of my breakfast and turned to leave with them.

As we walked, I could tell they both didn’t know how to start. I was getting anxious, “Is this about Miller?”

“Um, yes it is actually. We thought that his stitches were a fluke yesterday but it seems that we were wrong.” Dr. Tsing was having trouble keeping her face straight.

“Wrong, how?” Now I was way past anxious.

“Nathan seemed to have some sort of psychotic break last night. He tried to hurt himself and almost hurt one of the other patients in the medical ward last night. We were forced to sedate him and he is now being held in our psych ward.” Dante Wallace on the other hand had no issues with his poker face.

“What?!” my voice echoed in the empty hallway and I saw Dr. Tsing flinch out of the corner of my eye.

‘Clarke, it has been stressful for all of you the last week or so. It’s a lot to handle, and to be honest I am surprised not more of you have crumbled under it.” Dr. Tsing had her family doctor voice on, I knew it, cause I had one too. I used it when I didn't want the patient's family to overreact.

“He is under observation by our specialists and it will be awhile before he is cleared to see anyone. As soon as possible, we will let you and your other friends see him. I am so sorry to have to burden you with this, you are just a child and shouldn’t have to deal with this.” Dante put what I assume was a comforting hand on my shoulder, it took all my might to not shake him off.

I knew what they were telling me had to be a lie, Miller must have gotten out and they had to cover it up. I had to hope that was what happened and that he wasn’t caught and killed. No, wait, he couldn’t have been killed, they said we could see him in a few days. Okay, that’s better.

“We will leave you alone, feel free to tell your friends what you feel appropriate. We can tell they look up to you.” With that Dante and Dr. Tsing turned away and left me standing in the empty hallway.

“Miller, I hope you know what you are doing.” I said quietly to myself. Okay now time to go try and explain to everyone.


	5. Chapter 5 - Heda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Thanks to my new amazing Beta PeachieMochi!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 5 - Heda

**Juliana and Avan’s farm**

**Octavia’s POV**

  
  


I hugged Rory to my chest slightly as I pushed the door open with my foot and entered the kitchen. Juliana jumped out of the chair she was sitting in and reached for Rory. I surrendered the baby with little fuse and a quick kiss to her head. I didn’t see West anywhere so he must be sleeping in the nursery. 

_ “She is waiting for you,”  _ Juliana said gently. “ _ Avan is in there for you.” _

“ _ Well, that can’t be more terrifying than her sneaking up on me out back.”  _ Juliana only gave me a pained smile. 

I took a deep breath and once again stifled any fear I had, I needed this to work. My family needed this to work. I walked into what was their family room and kept my head down once again. 

_ “Welcome, Octavia. You may rise.”  _ The Heda said. I raised my head but didn’t speak. My eyes searched for Avan, right now he was as comforting as my brother possibly could be. I found him standing off to the corner of the room, far behind the Heda or the man that came with her. 

_ “I am Lexa, the Commander of the Coalition. This man next to me is my advisor Titus. Avan has told me that your Trig has improved greatly since you came to stay with them 4 days ago, are you comfortable with continuing in Trig or  _ would you like me to stay in English?” She asked me gently, she switched languages so naturally that I barely registered it. 

I wanted so desperately to say yes to staying in English but I didn’t. “ _ Trig please, I am really doing my best to learn. My people were as well, before they were taken, of course. My sister, Clarke, and our council of sorts, kind of a group of seconds, really would like to be friends with you and your people.”  _

I might have imagined it but I thought that just maybe I saw a spark of respect in her eyes. The man, Titus, looked shocked that I had requested to stay in trig, I didn't have to look at Avan to know he was proud of me for this. 

_ “I read your letter, it was impressive. The things that your people in space did to you and the others, well it is unsettling at the least. Did you truly have to live under the floor for your entire life?”  _ The Heda turned around as she spoke and sat in one of the chairs in the room. Everyone else stayed standing without being told to.

“ _ Well kinda, I only had to be under the floor when the guards were doing checks or if both my brother and mother were going to be out. When they were home I was able to be out in our room. But I grew up surrounded by the same 4 walls until I was 15 and then I moved to another 4 walls, that was when I was placed in the  _ Skybox _ , what we called the prison in space. Being sent down here to Earth, while it was and still is sometimes terrifying. It was the biggest opportunity of my life.” _ I explained nervously, I wasn’t sure when to stop. I didn’t really know how much she wanted to hear. 

“ _ That is a sad story, I am sorry that happened to you. Tell me about your people, your sister - you have already mentioned her and the child you had earlier. Tell me your story, Octavia.”  _ She leaned back in the chair and semi-relaxed.

_ ‘Uhh, ok. Well, I’ll start with my sister I guess. Her name is Clarke and she is my sister by marriage. She met my brother when she was 16 and he was 19, they were both new to their jobs in the ARK. My sister is a trained doctor and umm... Nyko has been working with her to help her learn about some of the different techniques you have down here. My sister was the first person who knew about me besides my family, my brother was going to stop seeing her because of me. My mom intervened and introduced us before my brother could tell her that he couldn't see her anymore.  _

_ She and my brother got married after I had been imprisoned, I didn’t know until we landed down here. My mom was executed the same night they found me and I was lucky that they let my brother off with just a warning. My sister, Clarke, and her mom have always disagreed and Abby, her mom, got Clarke’s father killed. Clarke moved in with my brother as soon as she could and they got married shortly after.  _

_ All of us who were sent down here were criminals by the ARK standards and my sister wasn’t supposed to be part of the group. She and my brother were,  _ umm..I don’t know the word for this, sorry, blackmailed.  _ There was this guard who threatened them and my sister had to take the fall because she was still underage and was trained in a needed profession, they wouldn't execute her immediately unlike my brother who was already on thin ice with the ARK because of me. _

_ My sister, unfortunately, didn’t know at the time that she was pregnant with my niece. Before we were all sent down though we had tests done, we were test subjects to figure out if our people could live down here if needed. The tests were performed by Clarke’s mother, Abby, it has become clear now that Abby knew Clarke was pregnant. Even still she sent her daughter and her future granddaughter down here and didn’t know or care if they would die. So safe to say we don’t really like many people on the ARK. Centakru as a group has completely renounced any connection to the ARK as a whole. Save for people like my brother and some others, the ARK is full of people similar to the ones who sacrificed us. So that's um, all I got. I don’t know if that's what you wanted to hear or if you are just humoring me and might kill me in a minute.”  _

Wow, I didn’t know that I was a bit of a rambler, it’s always so weird to find those kinds of things out. The Heda had sat quietly throughout my whole story, discombobulated as it was. She didn’t move even once and just watched as I talked. As I wrapped up my story with my nerves on edge, she did show a hint of amusement in her eyes. Now that I was done speaking her fingers began to tab on the armrest of the chair.

_ “And tell me, what about the rest of the people in space? Will they be coming down to join us anytime soon?” _ I somehow felt like a lot rode on this question.

“ _ No, I don’t believe so. They sent us down here when they believed that the machines that ran the ARK were dying. One of our last contacts with them told us that they had fixed it and wouldn’t be joining us. They abandoned us down here for nothing and expected us to die, and now we are doing our best to prove them wrong. If for some reason they were to come down here then I do believe that my people wouldn’t want any contact with them. Well most of them, my brother didn’t do anything and I am sure a few of my friends feel the same way about their parents or friends. Not that we expect them ever to join us.” _

_ “I see, and now what? Your people have been taken by the mountain and you want what?”  _ The Commander said as her fingers continued tapping on the armrest.

“ _ I would like your help to rescue them and hopefully in the future some kind of treaty between our people. Being taken by the mountain aside, we wouldn’t have survived winter without the help of Trikru. We would like to be friends with the coalition.” _

Both Avan and Titus had been quiet this entire time until apparently Titus had enough. He barely let me finish my sentences before a scoff came out of his mouth. It was everything I had not to turn to look at him and still stay looking at the Heda. She didn’t have such reservations and her head turned with the grace only an extremely pissed off badass could have. 

_ “Was there something you wanted to say, Titus?”  _

I couldn’t see her entire face but just the calculated tone in her voice told me she was enraged. Titus seemed to realize his mistake and I could see every known human emotion flash on his face before he settled on a mix of apologetic and fearful.

_ "I apologize, Heda, in all my years as your advisor, I have never done something so heinous."  _ Titus bent down to the floor and had his forehead touching the floor before he had even finished his words. 

" _ Then why did you do so now?"  _ The Heda seemed to be genuinely interested and it made me wonder even more about this terrifying woman. She couldn't be much older than my sister and yet she had him groveling with just a few words. 

_ "I fear my opinions about these Sky People are not similar to what I believe you have. I don't trust them and I don't think that we should be anything but offensive. I don't believe that we should help them."  _ He stayed in his bow. 

The Heda started at his prone form for a minute before she nodded to herself. " _ I will take your opinions into consideration as I consider my judgment on this matter. For now, leave us."  _

Titus slowly rose from his knees to his feet but stayed bowed at the waist. Slowly he walked backwards and out of the door, his gaze never once leaving the floor at his feet. 

The Heda started at his form and then the door for a few moments before coming back to herself. " _ I apologize for Titus, Octavia. He is not normally like that and the fact that he did that speaks to his opinion of you and your people. What do you think I should do, my most trusted advisor doesn’t trust you and yet for some reason I feel inclined to help you.” _

I had to fight to keep the preemptive smile off my face, just because she felt that way doesn’t mean that she would help us.  _ “I don’t have a good reason for you to help us, we invaded your land, we hurt some of your people, and we really don’t have anything to give you-” _

She cut me off, “ _ How is this convincing me? This is more like telling me not to.” _

_ “I know that. I don’t think that I will be able to sway you anyway from the decision you have made or will make. I can stand here all day and tell you about my people and why they deserve to be saved. I can tell you about how my niece deserves to be able to know her mother and how I am not ready to have to raise my niece but I will if I have to. I could tell you that I don’t know how to survive down here without anyone else but I truly don’t think any of that will sway you more than what Titus said. You know him and you trust him, you don’t know me and you don’t know my people. Why should you trust me? Why should you help me? I can’t tell you what to do. That’s up to you, all I can do is hope that you might hate the Maunon enough to want to help us. That you might feel enough pity for me and help me.”  _ I finished my speech and was proud of myself for not faltering. I kept my eyes up and stared at her the entire time. 

The entire time her face was impassive, she gave nothing away while I spoke. Her face didn’t move once even when I was done but her eyes kept looking me up and down until finally, she settled on my face.

“Leave me, both of you. And send Titus in.” She spoke in English and it took my brain a second to catch up that I didn’t need to translate anything. Once I realized I made to leave before I remembered proper etiquette, I stopped and bowed to her before rising and turning to see Avan doing the same. 

We quickly left the room and Avan turned to Titus. “ _ She wants you.” _

Titus didn’t respond but rose from the kitchen table he was sitting at and entered the room behind us.  _ “You summoned me, Commander?”  _ The door closed before I could hear her response. 

All at once, the fight left me and I felt light-headed. I slowly made my way to Titus’ abandoned chair and sat gently. I rested my head and arms on the table and tried to control my emotions and my breathing. 

I felt Avan walk behind me and place a hand on my back. “ _ You did very well Octavia, not the way I would have done it but I think that you impressed her.” _

I heard Juliana gasp from the other side of the table where she was still holding Rory.  _ “It went well?” _

“I mean maybe, I have never been so nervous in my life and my life has had plenty of nerve-wracking moments. Yeah, I know, I should be speaking trig but I can’t right now. I don’t even know what just happened. I could have just doomed all of my people and there is no way to fix it.” 

“Its ok, Octavia. You don’t have to right now. Would you like to hold Rory, I know she calms you down?” Juliana offered gently.

“Not quite yet, I am still shaking and I don’t want to drop her.” I lifted my head from arms and looked at Rory sleeping peacefully in Juliana’s arms. 

“I don’t think you will drop her but ok if you say so. Everything is going to be fine, Octavia.” Juliana continued to try and convince me. Avan hummed behind me and slowly began to rub my back in soothing circles. 

Soon the silence was broken by the sound of West crying in the other room. Julian quickly stood up and unceremoniously dumped a sleeping Rory in my arms. With a quick ‘sorry’ she was out of the room and tending to her own son. 

I stared down at her sleeping face and took a deep breath. “Everything is going to be ok Rory, even if I messed this up and we have no hope of saving everyone else. I will never let anything happen to you, I swear it.”

Avan stayed quiet behind me, his hand a gentle comfort as I promised the newborn. We sat in silence for a few minutes until it was broken by the sound of the door to the other room opening. Avan quickly turned to look and I swiveled in my seat gently, as to not wake Rory. Titus was standing at the entrance. 

“ _ She wants you both to come in.”  _

I looked down at Rory and back up at him,  _ “I can’t just leave her out here alone. I don’t know when Juliana is coming back.” _

My voice must have carried because I heard Heda’s voice before Titus could come up with a response.

“ _ Bring her in then.” _

I didn’t have to see Titus’ face to know that he disliked the idea, he quickly turned on his heel and entered the room again. I looked up at Avan and he just shrugged. I took a deep breath and made sure I had a good hold on my sleeping gladiator before I rose and followed Titus into the room, Avan at my back once more. 

Once again I stood in front of the Heda with my head bowed, not in a full bow because of Rory. Avan resumed his place in the corner and Titus behind and to the side of the Heda. 

“ _ You may rise Octavia.”  _ I was slow to do so, and by the time my eyes rose the Heda had left her seat and was standing a few feet in front of me. I was just able to control my jump at her sudden nearness. 

“ _ I am not going to lie, I am hesitant about you and your people, you are a complete unknown even with everything you told me about your people. The fact that there are more of you in space and that they could come down whenever they please, well it makes me uncomfortable. I understand that you want to cut ties with the majority of them now but that could change at any moment. But...I also see that you have no reason to lie to me. We share a common enemy and the reports I got from Anya and the rest of Trikru were good, to say the least. I think you and your people are lost and I think you are looking for some kind of home. I would like to help you save our people that are in the Mountain. I will also use this time to take into consideration what to do after that. If it is agreeable and I still am in favor of the idea, I would like to make Centakru the 13th clan. Of course, I would like to meet your sister before I make my final decision, you said you are her second or one of a few seconds.” _

It took everything in me to not cry in happiness, it wasn’t a guaranteed plan for the future but it was hope for the future. When we rescued everyone and everything was back to normal, we might actually survive this planet.

_ “Yes, of course, Heda. I think that will be agreeable and yes, Clarke is our leader. I am a second but we have formed a bit of a council, we all work together to help our people. I understand that you are hesitant about us, and I hope you will come to see that we really just want to belong somewhere.” _

_ “That is all for now, we will discuss more later. I must call a meeting and begin forming a plan to either invade the mountain or at least find a way to rescue our people.”  _ With that she turned away from me and walked back to her seat, Titus moved to lean down to speak with her once she sat. 

I felt Avan place a gentle hand on my arm and maneuver me out of the room. Juliana was back in the kitchen, this time feeding West. Her eyes moved up to us as soon as the door opened. Avan guided me into the chair I had been in before and walked over to give Juliana a kiss on her head. 

I didn’t look up at her questioning glance and just continued to stare at Rory. 

“We did it, my little gladiator. Everything is going to be ok now.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come check out my Tumblr, Londonrose98, it's not very interesting but still.
> 
> And once again thanks to my new beta PeachieMochi


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